Montana PBS to Host June 8 Preview of 'The American Buffalo,' a New Film Directed by Ken Burns

Montana PBS will host a preview of "The American Buffalo," a new two-part, four-hour film series directed by Ken Burns, at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 8, at The Wilma in Missoula.

Approximately one hour of footage will be shown at the preview, and it will be followed by a panel discussion. The event is free and open to the public; doors open at 6:30 p.m.

The series, which has been in production for four years, will take viewers on a journey through more than 10,000 years of North American history and across some of the continent's most iconic landscapes, tracing the mammal's evolution, its significance to the Great Plains and its relationship to the Indigenous people of North America.

The film includes interviews with leading Native American scholars, land experts, and tribal nation members. Among those interviewed are Gerard Baker, Mandan-Hidatsa; George Horse Capture, Jr., Aaniiih; Rosalyn LaPier, Blackfeet of Montana and Métis; N. Scott Momaday, Kiowa; Marcia Pablo, Pend d'Oreille and Kootenai; Ron Parker, Comanche; Dustin Tahmahkera, Comanche; and Germaine White, Confederated Salish, and Kootenai Tribes.

After the preview, Montana PBS will host a panel conversation with director Burns, writer Dayton Duncan, producer Julie Dunfey, historian Rosalyn LaPier, and National Wildlife Federation-Tribal Buffalo Program senior manager Jason Baldes. Montana PBS host and producer John Twiggs will moderate the discussion.

The series was written by Duncan, who is also the author of a forthcoming companion book, "Blood Memory: The Tragic Decline and Improbable Resurrection of the American Buffalo." It was produced by Burns' longtime colleague Julie Dunfey. Julianna Brannum, a member of the Quahada band of the Comanche Nation of Oklahoma, served as consulting producer. W. Richard West Jr., a Cheyenne and founding director and director emeritus of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian, was the senior adviser.

"The American Buffalo" will air Oct. 16 and 17 on Montana PBS, at montanapbs.org and via the PBS app.